Eyeglasses are a critical personal accessory for those who require them and depend on them to see objects in their surroundings more clearly, read print material and engage in other activities requiring a sharp and clear vision. The common practice among eyeglass users is to store their eyeglasses in eyeglass cases when they are not in use and carry those cases on one's person, in a handbag, in the glove compartment of a vehicle etc. These means of transporting eyeglasses in their cases involve the cumbersome and time consuming task of retrieving the eyeglasses from their cases when needed. The other drawback in storing eyeglasses in a case is the tendency to misplace the case and not be able to access and use the eyeglasses when needed.
The need for easy access to eyeglasses especially when engaged in certain activities such as driving, playing sports, working in a laboratory, in a workshop and other such places has spawned an industry for eyeglass holders to store eyeglasses when not needed during the activities and to be able to retrieve them as needed during and after the activities. Prior art have described the use of holders for eyeglasses on a person's clothing (U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,739,368, 7,584,527), in spaces such as the interior of a vehicle (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,810,310, 5,613,661), wall mountable holders (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,779,829, 4,239,167). The eyeglass holders described in these prior art are mainly configured to hold a single pair of eye glasses. In work spaces such as a laboratory or a workshop which employ multiple eyeglass users, the use of these single use eyeglass holders are not pragmatic. Such work places require eyeglass holders that can hold multiple eyeglasses of the workers in that workspace at a given time. Further, in a workshop, machine shop, or a laboratory, certain activities require wearing protective eyeglasses to shield the eyes from harsh chemicals as in a laboratory, or to prevent debris and/or sharp objects from hitting the eyes in a machine or other workshop. In such workspaces, besides holders for multiple personal eyeglasses, there is a need for holders that can also hold multiple protective eyewear. Accordingly, there is a need in the prior art for an eyeglass holder that can hold multiple eyeglasses, both personal eyeglasses and protective eyewear for use in work environments employing multiple eyeglass users.
The eyeglass holder of the present invention is configured to hold multiple eyeglasses of a variety of kinds, both personal eyeglasses and protective eyewear when working in environments requiring such eyewear.